


Shoes for one or for two

by Corina (CorinaLannister)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, POV Cordelia Chase, Roommates, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27353869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorinaLannister/pseuds/Corina
Summary: Willow and Cordelia share a room at University of California, Sunnydale with interesting results on their arrival.
Relationships: Cordelia Chase/Willow Rosenberg
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6
Collections: Femslash Exchange 2020





	Shoes for one or for two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [punch_kicker15](https://archiveofourown.org/users/punch_kicker15/gifts).



Share a room with Willow for college, they had said. It would be fine, they had said. All of the scooby gang had assured her that it would be fine, that it would work out. Nothing bad would come of them sharing a room. She had dismissed the idea immediately when it was first brought up. 

Then, not taking no for an answer, Buffy, Willow and even Xander had teamed up against her, even getting Giles involved. Giles said it would be beneficial for them to share a room, in case they had to stay up late researching or were gone at odd hours. The only person Cordelia thought this would be better for was Buffy, she even voiced her opinion, to which the room fell silent. In hindsight, her rejection of the situation could have been handled a lot more smoothly. 

She had gone home that night and had thought about it a bit longer, weighing up the pros and cons in her mind, in a very Willow like fashion. She might be able to count on Willow’s smartness. She could be her ticket through college. Maybe, she could even offer fashion advice in exchange for help with her coursework. It could work. But then again, it would look like she was just doing what everyone else told her to do, if she accepted the offer after kicking up a fuss about it in the first place. 

The thing that changed her mind in the end was hearing and seeing Willow in tears. For some reason that made her chest constrict and her throat start to burn like she was going to tear up as well. Her reaction confused her at first but the more she thought about it the more it made sense. After everything she and Willow had shared together she now knew why she was so vehemently against sharing a room with her. She, Cordelia, had had a crush on her and didn’t want it to come to light were they to share a room. It would happen no matter how much she tried to hide it. 

Yet, Cordelia agreed, for the sake of her friendship with Willow, if nothing else. Sharing a room together at Stevenson Hall caused all manners of secrets to come forth. Being on top of Hellmouth and friends with a Slayer had changed her way of thinking. It had also changed her outlook on life. She never spoke the words ‘I wish’ anymore. Even if she wished a lot of things. Like that she wished to marry Willow in the future. That was not likely to come true at all. Even less likely than Spike helping out the scooby gang. 

In the end, Cordelia turned out to be very thankful to share a room with Willow. It was not at all like she had expected it to be. From the moment she had first met Willow she had treated her with disdain, and Willow had made her delete a whole project for class. But she had forgiven her for that one, even if she would never forget that moment. It was the moment she started respecting her. Cordelia did in fact benefit from sharing a room with Willow. A lot. So much so, that she can’t even imagine not living with Willow let alone just sharing a room with her. She can no longer imagine being away from her for any period of time. Marrying Willow could be on the cards for her, after all, two less likely things had happened. 

\----------------------------------------  
UC Sunnydale was not considered to be a very highly sought after school to study at but Cordelia was happy to be going to any University at all. Even if it she was going to share a room with Willow

Cordelia made sure that she was the first to arrive to the room to ensure her the first choice of bed. Both were the same, not one side was better than the other so Cordelia picked the one on the left, just because she could. Both sides of the room were exactly the same. One single bed, one chest of drawers and one wardrobe. Cordelia also placed her stuff on what she thought was the best shelves and space within the room, some of it was likely supposed to be for Willow to use. She would be fully settled, laying claim to her territory before Willow arrived. Her shoes she placed alongside the wall, leaking slightly over half way.

When she was done, Cordelia stepped back to admire her handiwork. Everything was right where she wanted it but something was wrong. She glanced at her bed and then the other bed in the room. She hadn’t checked the beds for comfort. So she did just that. Then with a quick glance at the door to their room, she exchanged the mattresses before lying on hers to wait for Willow to arrive. 

Before she could even get comfy, a voice came through the door. Willow was here already. 

“Cordelia? Are you here yet?” 

Cordelia lay down with a small smile on her face and answered Willow, “I’ve been here all day. It’s your room too you know. You can come on in. You don't have to knock.” 

The door opened and Willow swept in, dragging her luggage behind her. She abandoned it in favour to look around the room. Cordelia watched her eyes go to the bed, her clothes and then follow the line of her shoes along the wall. It was then that Willow’s facial expression dropped, her smile disappearing for a second. 

“You’ve already unpacked!” Willow exclaimed, looking at Cordelia. “I can’t believe you unpacked without me. I could have helped arrange those shoes in colour order.”

At this Cordelia was intrigued and flabbergasted at the same time, this was not the reaction she was expecting. She broke her gaze from Willow to assess her shoes. They were in fact not in colour order. In her haste to have everything sorted before Willow had arrived she had placed them in whatever order she had found them out in. Her mouth opened and closed, words failed her. Willow was too kind hearted. 

Cordelia heard Willow let out a squeal and her attention snapped back to her. She had flopped back onto the bed, bouncing slightly on it. The sight made her smile. She opened her mouth to apologise about the shoes but didn't get a chance to speak.

“And this bed. It’s so comfy. I’m going to love it here,” Willow said with the excitement of a woman going to the Bronze for the first time. Her excitement evaporated when she looked at Cordelia again, “I hope you will too.”

“I’m sure I will,” Cordelia said truthfully. Albeit feeling slightly bad about the shoes, her stuff and the mattresses. “I can help you unpack...we can arrange your shoes and we can arrange mine if you’d like.” 

“Yes, I would like that, very much so.” 

“Come on then,” Cordelia said excitedly, practically jumping from her bed. She held her hand out to Willow and when their hands joined, they fit against one another like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Soon, all of Willow's shoes had been emptied out onto the floor. 

Cordelia shared a small smile with Willow as they argued over proper shoe placement and what constituted as coral as opposed to salmon pink and just the colour pink. Which caused an eruption of laughter between them. 

When they were finally done, their shoes were lined up along the length of the wall. Not a space was left there. 

“Your salmon pumps look great next to my coral boots,” Cordelia stated, still trying to convince Willow that their shoes were not any old pink. They had not only sorted out their shoes on their sides of the room. They had put them together in such a way that they were integrated, one rainbow of colour against the wall for both of them. Their shoes had been sorted together. 

“As you say. Like the other ones here which are lavender as opposed to lilac,” Willow replied, yielding. 

“We’re going to make a fashion diva of you yet, Willow.” 

“There’s less chance of Spike helping us than that, Cordelia.”


End file.
